Julian Assange promised that there'll be big revelations in the 5 million confidential emails WikiLeaks began publishing Monday. (Ap Photo)

WikiLeaks is once again publishing sensitive information obtained illegally. Monday morning, the anti-secrecy group began publishing 5 million stolen and confidential emails from the Austin-based global security analysis firm Stratfor, once dubbed the “shadow CIA” by the business magazine Barron’s.

The emails can be found through WikiLeaks website, but they’re also being published in collaboration with more than 25 media organizations around the world. Some of the biggest stories the emails have resulted in so far is that the Pakistan army and intelligence service ISI knew of Osama bin Laden’s hideout in the town Abbotabad.

Other stories that have emerged from the emails is that Israel last year carried out a successful covert attack against the Iranian nuclear program and that Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela who has cancer, may have less than a year left to live. Some of the sources are very high ranking foreign officials or individuals with insider knowledge, such as the Russian defense insider who reveals secrets about the missile used in the crisis with Georgia in 2008.

Stratfor provides global intelligence to a range of customers, including government agencies such as the US Marines and the Department of Homeland Security and large corporations such as Bhopal’s Dow Chemical Co. and Coca-Cola Company. According to WikiLeaks, the emails will shed light on an immoral and reckless Texas company working on the edge of the law.

“Stratfor is simply out of control,” Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, said at the media club London’s Frontline Club.

Stratfor released a statement condemning the publication of the emails.

“In December, thieves compromised Stratfor’s data systems and stole a large number of company emails, along with other private information of Stratfor readers, subscribers and employees. Those stolen emails apparently will be published by WikiLeaks. This is a deplorable, unfortunate — and illegal — breach of privacy”, the company states.

According to intelligence expert Buck Revell, a former high-ranking FBI official and current director for a global security-consulting firm, the leak of the emails won’t affect national security, but it’s a huge embarrassment for Stratfor.

“They don’t deal in classified information, so there’s no imminent threat to the United States or any of our classified programs,” the intelligence expert said. “It’s very embarrassing for an intelligence firm not to be able to protect its own data. It’s not going to be devastating to the United States, but it might be devastating to Stratfor.”

Despite the embarrassment, Revell thinks that the company will be able to survive the blow.

“It’s damaging to the company because it’s embarrassing and because it damages the trust of the client base,” he said. “It will harm the overall earnings and I’m sure they’ll lose some clients, but I think they can rebuild the confidence.”

WikiLeaks claims the revelations shed light on a shadowy Texas-based company.The emails are dated between 2004 and 2011.

“The emails show Stratfor’s web of informers, pay-off structure, payment-laundering techniques and psychological methods,” WikiLeaks wrote in a press release about the emails.

The emails apparently were stolen by hackers linked to the hacker group Anonymous, who claim that they have stolen the emails from about 100 employees at the intelligence firm.

“Congrats on the amazing partnership between #Anonymous and #WikiLeaks to make all 5 million mails public,” it was tweeted on one of the group’s Twitter accounts earlier this year.